83 
When the experiment was made witbout the said commutator, 
and the course of the potential of the iron with the time was 
examined immediately after anodic polarisation, it appeared that 
after having passed through a minimum, the potential again rapidly 
rose to the initial value. 
As a fuller examination of this phenomenon would have led the 
investigation of Smits and Losry De Bruyn into a bye-way, this 
study was postponed to a later occasion, and this is the reason why 
the publication of this phenomenon has been withheld until now. 
Registration of the Phenomenon. 
In order to represent the phenomenon graphically we have employed 
the photographic registration method, making use of Mo11’s galvano- 
meter. The potential of an iron electrode I was measured with 
respect to another auxiliary iron electrode II, a platinum tin leaf 
serving as cathode. The electrolyte was a '/, normal solution of ferro- 
sulphate. The iron electrode I, which had an area of about 25 m.m’, 
was made anode for a short time, the density of the current being 
chosen so that the iron would have become passive with longer 
passage of the current. Zmmediately after this anodic polarisation 
the galvanometer was inserted into the circuit iron I-electrolyte-iron 
II, so that the course of the potential which iron I presented after 
the anodic polarisation, could be accurately registered. 
The film now showed: first the potential of iron I with respect 
to iron II before the experiment, secondly the curve representing 
FE 
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